007 Legends Adds the "Legendary" Die Another Day

Cue laughter.

With the James Bond film franchise celebrating its 50-year anniversary this year -- Dr. No came out in 1962 -- releasing a game as a tie-in to not only this year's Skyfall, but the franchise as a whole sounds like a great idea to me as a big Bond fan. I'd love to celebrate a tremendous series and relive the high points of some movies that never had the opportunity to be made into games. The prospect of choosing only five films to feature alongside of Skyfall in 007 Legends is a tall task -- there are a lot of great films in the series, just as there are some duds. Do you go for the best five? Do you try to account for a film from each of the actors who portrayed Bond? Do you go for the most Bond-ish of the bunch, regardless of actor?

Looking at what's said in press releases, you could become convinced the right thought process is being applied to the decision-making process. Take, for example, this one from today: "The method of picking which James Bond movies to include in 007 Legends was a deep and thoughtful process between Eurocom, Activision, EON and Danjaq," said Eon Productions' David G. Wilson. "We took great care in selecting movies that helped define who Bond has become over the years, and ones that could be tied together in a compelling way to pay homage to 50 years of 007."

Based on that, one would expect the likes of Dr. No and From Russia With Love to be in there alongside perhaps Goldfinger, The Spy Who Loved Me, or Thunderball. (I leave out GoldenEye because the recent Reloaded remake presumably precludes its inclusion.) Instead, the first movie to be confirmed when the game was first revealed was Moonraker, perhaps the weakest film up to that point in the franchise's history. Still, it was Bond's first journey into outer space and if I had to guess, I would have expected it to make the cut. On Her Majesty's Secret Service came next, and while I'm not a fan of George Lazenby (I was quite happy with Sean Connery being back for Diamonds Are Forever, which is among my favorite Bond films), it's a strong movie and fits the criteria of being a movie that defined Bond, what with his newlywed bride being murdered by Blofeld and all.

Fast forward to today's announcement which, keep in mind, was accompanied by the quote above. Two new movies have been announced: License to Kill and -- wait for it -- Die Another Day. Ignoring the first one for a moment, it's absolutely laughable for Die Another Day to be included in such a collection. Although Pierce Brosnan is my favorite of the Bond actors (I assume this has a lot to do with whom you saw first; Brosnan was the one for me), even I would not dare argue Die Another Day is anything approaching a good movie. In fact, I'm not sure I would try to argue with anyone who would suggest it is the worst film in the entire franchise; from Halle Berry's awful performance to the invisible car and Madonna, it was an all-around mess. It's so bad I'm left with no other movie to reference as a joke for what could be next because we've already reached the bottom of the barrel. It's a testament to Daniel Craig and Martin Campbell that Casino Royale was able to bring new life to a series that could have easily been permanently wrecked.

If a Brosnan film had to be chosen and GoldenEye was not an option -- and I have to believe it wasn't, because it's easily the best of his movies -- I wish Tomorrow Never Dies could have gotten the nod. It's better than both The World is Not Enough (Denise Richards -- enough said) and Die Another Day, and the notion of a war being started under false pretenses could make for an interesting mission. Instead, it seems that rather than go for the series' high points, Activision and company were only concerned with picking extravagant set pieces like a race across ice, a space weapon, and a jet that's about to crash. Sure, this should be a tribute to the best of Bond, but if we can instead relive its low point because it affords us a space weapon, let's just go ahead and pretend like Die Another Day was not an unmitigated disaster.

The quality of License to Kill (bless your heart!) is more debatable, with a lot of that having to do with your personal feelings on Timothy Dalton. While I don't particularly dislike the movie (I know it's Dalton that didn't ruin it for me, as even with him I quite enjoyed The Living Daylights), it seems strange for it to be chosen as one of a few movies that captures the essence of Bond considering it felt decidedly unlike the movies that came before it. Still, next to Die Another Day it looks like a brilliant choice.

There is still one movie to be named, and while it might end up being one of the series' better ones, I can't see it making up for Die Another Day. It is simply the absolute antithesis of what something like 007 Legends should be about. Maybe Eurocom will be able to salvage scraps from the movie and make them into a more enjoyable mission, but it doesn't change the fact that its efforts would have been better spent on something resembling a decent Bond flick.

Comments (4)

Oy.

No thanks

This has to be a practical joke. There is no way they would knowingly choose these movies to represent one of the greatest franchises of all time. There is no way they would do this to Bond fans and movie fans worldwide. Nobody, and I really mean nobody, could be that heartless. I was upset when they announced Moonraker. I was sick when they announced On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I felt even sicker when they announced License to Kill. Yet, the nail in the coffin was Die Another Day, one of the worst films of all time.

This game is dead to me. I will never justify its existence by paying for a copy. I will never play this game out of respect for the franchise that defined my childhood. Shame on them.